What is Treibball?

Treibball (Try-ball) is an all positive, competitive dog sport for dogs of all ages and sizes. It's great fun for any energetic dog that can learn to work well off-leash, and needs a job. Treibball is, above all, a positive communication sport, that builds a great working relationship between owner and dog!

Because it's a positive sport, and no physical or verbal corrections are allowed, Treibball is an excellent vehicle for encouraging reward based training and creative play between owners and their dogs. Dogs of all kinds; breeds, mixes and ages, are encouraged to learn and play! Treibball has proven to be a fun game that improves each dog's attention to the handler and their reliability off leash, for all other applications in training.

Treibball was developed in Germany 12 years ago, by Dutch trainer Jan Nijboer, who noticed his client's dogs still had excess energy after their herding lessons were over. Instead of playing with their training dummies, they made up their own herding game, pushing their rubber water dishes around the field. He wondered if they would do the same (play soccer, really) with large fitness balls. They did! He incorporated balls of different sizes into his herding practice, and developed the game for his training clients. The game caught on in Germany and spread east.

Dianna is one of the founding members of The American Treibball Association, (www.americantreibballassociation.org) that brought Treibball to America in 2010, and established rules for competitive play, in English..She currently serves as its President. Sanctioned Trials are held across the U.S now, granting titles and encouraging dog owners and positive-reinforcement trainers to have fun, and use Treibball as a teaching tool.

ATA's first competition of 2018 was hosted by Capitol Area Dog Training and Behavior, and held in Denver, February 17th, at the National Western Complex. Here's link to a short video and some great pictures, from our Trial. Don't you think your dog would have fun doing this?